Sabarimala gold loss: Accused 'jointly looted' Lord Ayyappa's property, says Kerala High Court

Kochi: The Kerala High Court on Wednesday dismissed the bail pleas of former TDB president A Padmakumar and two others in the Sabarimala gold loss cases, saying that the accused "jointly looted" Lord Ayyappa's property in the guise of protecting it.

Justice A Badharudeen declined to grant the relief to Padmakumar, former Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) administrative officer B Murari Babu and Roddam Pandurangaiah Naga Govardhan, a jeweller based in Ballari, Karnataka.

The High Court said that the accused on the premise of protecting the property of the deity, jointly looted it and this was prima facie evident from the records of the prosecution.

It further said that the antique value of the gold misappropriated cannot be quantified in terms of money and for that reason, the crimes "have an independent identity" which is separate from ordinary offences where grant of bail is recognised as a rule.

"Thus, these crimes are definitely crimes which would fall under the category of exception. In such a case, premature release of Govardhan would definitely impede the investigation of these crimes.

"In such a view of the matter, the bail plea, at the instance of Govardhan, at this stage could not be considered and therefore, his bail application must fail," the court said in its 119-page order dismissing the pleas.

It further said that if Padmakumar was released on bail, then the investigating officer would not be able to jointly question all the arrested former TDB members, including N Vijayakumar and K P Sankara Das.

Besides that, Padmakumar, being a former TDB president and MLA, was very influential and if released on bail, "would definitely interfere with the investigation, including the recovery of the remaining part of gold alleged to be misappropriated," the court said.

Regarding Murari Babu, the court said that his role in the misappropriation of the gold could not be viewed lightly and as the crimes were an exception, the general rule of granting bail "would not apply".

"As already observed, Babu is one among the prime accused in both crimes, and when serious allegations of this nature are raised, that too, misappropriation from a temple by the persons, who were assigned to protect the same become the looters, grant of bail to such an accused could not be considered, particularly when the investigation is on the mid stage, where recovery of a large portion of the gold ornaments is yet to be effected," the court said.

It said that if Babu was released on bail, "he would stand in the way of investigation, including recovery of the gold".

"Accordingly, these bail applications stand dismissed. It is made clear that if Babu is entitled to get statutory bail on failure on the part of the prosecution to file a final report in any of the cases, he is set at liberty to move the same and the same shall be considered in accordance with law," the court said.

It further said that in order to have an effective prosecution of the culprits in the cases, recovery of the misappropriated gold was absolutely essential as failure to do so "will give an edge" to the accused persons to get away from the penal consequences.

"...the misappropriation herein is one unheard of. That is, here the persons who now got booked as accused, are persons, who are duty bound to protect and preserve the temple property of the holy deity Sree Sabarimala Ayyappan," the court said.

It also asked the investigating officer to examine if anyone else, other than the accused, were involved in the crimes related to loss of gold from the Dwarapalaka (guardian deity) idols and Sreekovil (sanctum sanctorum) door frames of the shrine at Sabarimala.

In its order, the court also issued directions to the Thiruvananthapuram Medical College Hospital, where Sankara Das is currently admitted after being remanded to judicial custody, to find out whether he was suffering from any ailment and if his continued hospitalisation was necessary.

The court directed the hospital to constitute a medical board of expert doctors and file a report based on their opinion regarding Das' illness and continued hospitalisation.

The report has to be filed on or before January 27, it said.

The court also noted that Das' arrest was delayed and that his son was a DIG in the state police.

The court in its judgement also referred to a famous Malayalam film song, which translated into English read as -- 'Even if one performs penance in the midst of five fires (Panchagni), would it be a sufficient atonement for these sinful deeds?', and said everybody, "regardless of their caste or creed or stature", may be murmuring this song "to have a sigh of relief and to express their grief, dissatisfaction, and discontent regarding the nature of allegations involved in these crimes".

A Special Investigation Team (SIT) is probing the cases related to the loss of gold from the Dwarapalaka idols and the Sreekovil door frames at the Lord Ayyappa temple at Sabarimala.

The SIT has so far arrested 12 people, including two former TDB presidents, in the two cases. PTI HMP HMP KH